Comic reed whistle and the like



Feb. 20, 1951 L. SOKLASKI 2,542,720

COMIC REED WHISTLE AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 9, 1946 r 'Tfig.

LEO sow/15m mm Byggymgwy ATTORNEY:

Patented Feb. 20, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMIC REED WHISTLE AND THE LIKE Leo Soklaski, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application September 9, 1946, Serial No. 695,615

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a toy musical instrument in some respects resembling an animal call and which mainly consists of a hollow sounding body into which is fitted a mouthpiece provided with a reed.

The main object of my invention is to produce a toy instrument of the mentioned character having special tonal qualities such as a very catchy and noticeable comical sound ob ained by merely blowing the breath through the instrument, as well as a range of tone extending through an octave or more without the necessity of using finger holes or keys.

Another object is to have in such an instrument an instrument body of special externally reinforced shape to give certain solidity and timbre to the tone produced by the instrument without adding appreciable bulk the. body thereof.

A further objectis to make such an instrument of but a few pieces, preferably of plastic and which may be readily assembled to form the complete instrument, the parts being the body member, a mouthpiece which may be either a partly split member or a pair of opposed halves facing each other, and a fiat reed inserted between the two halves of said mouthpiece.

It is also an object to have the body member of the instrument internally provided with a stop against' which the mouthpiece parts engage to fix them in proper position, and also to have the i mentioned parts provided with stop shoulders adapted to engage upon the upper end of the body member for the same purpose.

It is especially an object to produce an instrument of the mentioned type which is reasonable in cost and which may be produced on a quantity basis for large distribution.

Other objects of the invention will appear more in detail as this specification proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings forming part hereof,

Fig. 1 is a view of a toy musical instrument made according to the salient features of my invention and embodying the same in a practical form; r

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same instrument;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 33 in Fig. 2;

Fig. l is also a vertical section as taken on line 4-4 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section of the main instrument body of Fig. 3 as shown alone without mouthpiece or reed;

Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the same body member taken on line 5-6 in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an exterior side elevation of a mouth- 2 piece member as it appears when removed from the body member;

Fig. 8 is a top elevation of member;

Fig. 9 is a rear or inside elevation of the same member;

Fig. 10 is another view of said member as seen from the bottom in Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a transverse section as taken on line H-Il inFig.9;

Fig. 12 is a vertical section as taken on line l2-l2 in the same Fig. 9;

Fig. 13 is an elevation showing the reed of the instrument;

Fig. 14 illustrates a modification of the instrument of Fig, l, with special reference to the instrument body; and

Fig. 15 is a transverse section taken on line I5-l5 in Fig. 14. 7

Throughout the views the same referenc numerals indicate the same or like parts.

Various animal calls such as crow and duck calls are known in which reeds are used for producing the desired sounds, but scant attention has been paid to the shape of the main hollow body member of the call or whistle involved insofar as the same might influence the tone of the latter. Usually the body member is simply designed to form a tube or holding member by which the call whistle is to be handled and through which the breath is blown to actuate the the same mouthpiece reed. Dependence on the length of the hollow body member and the length of reed free to vibrate is practically the only recourse had for determining tone, pitch and timbre, and these are thus limited. In all cases, such call whistles have been limited to a single tone or call with but slight variation of the tone or pitch possible, not to mention that the design and construction have caused such devices to be rather expensive and not very popular.

On the other hand, in musical reed instruments, various finger holes and keys are always resorted to for producing regular steps corresponding to notes in a scale, quite in contrast with the crow or duck calls and the like.

In the present invention, however, it is possible to use the instrument in only one condition of adjustmentand yet produce substantially a complete scale of tones by merely regulating the pressure of the air blown through the instrument, as well as many ludicrous sounds besides.

Hence, referring now again to the drawings, as particularly shown in Figs. 1 to 6, a. hollow instrument body, generally indicated at It has an upper 1946. With tapered hollow portion l7! terminating within at a stop shoulder l8 while from the latter a downwardly tapered hole extends to end in a flaring bell W at 20. Into the upper portion I I is fitted a pair of opposed mouthpiece members 2 I, 2|, each having an external tapered half shank 22 ending at its widest part at a shoulder 23. The upper portion of each member 2| is practically a half cylinder exteriorly considered at 24 and at the top 25 is preferably rounded off for easy introduction into the mouth, the external half cylinder in each case being modified by an ovoid concave cut 26 serving as a tooth bit relieved at the top by a small general-reduced or flat portion 21. Upon the reverse or inner side, each mouthpiece member is formed substantially flat at 28 and at approximately the intermediate portion this connects with a lower flat portion 29 disposed at a slight angle to portion 28, the two meeting at 3%. At the upper end, a pair of spacers 3|, 3| serve to hold the members apart so that the two opposed flat races 23 form a wedge shaped opening for a reed 32 when the latter is held between the opposed lower faces 29, the reed at its upper pointed end 33 clearing the mentioned spacers to allow free vibration of the reed, and also to allow access of the breath to said reed between said spacers. The median section of the mouthpiece members is hollowed out to form a sound chamber 34 with inclined at the bottom with a sound duct or projecting passage 35 which in both members together forms a central duct connecting with the relatively abruptly larger tapering and flaring sound discharge opening 20 within bell l9 of the body member I B.

If the mouthpiece members as a composite unit should be thrust into the mouth and a blast of air projected between said members at'the reed or tongue 32, the latter will instantly vibrate; and due to the described arrangement, will sound a note that may be termed a tone almost intermediate that of a duck call and a crow call with a comical overtone. It is to be noted that the tone is readily made more pronounced by means which will be presently described, but the key is especially susceptible to variation by varying the pressure of the breath, the higher the pressure the higher the note. In any case, the variation may be forced through an octave or more with ludicrous effect on an audience.

The instrument body is externally reinforced to give a certain solidity to the tone and even resonance by applying a form of skeleton reinforcement consisting in the preferred embodimentof a plurality or series of transverse ribs or flanges surrounding the major portion of the length of the member as shown at 3B. These flanges may be more or less oval in shape, if desired, as noted in Fig. 6 in order to facilitate holding the toy instrument between the fingers. The upper end of the series is terminated by a rounded shoulder 31 and at the bottom, the bell has a wide groove 38, the design as a whole generally conforming to the design disclosed in my copending application Serial No. D. 125,672, filed January 1'7, 1946, and issuing as Patent D. 145,590, dated September 10, such reinforcement integral with the body member, the tone is more truly the mentioned comical tone, sounding somewhat like a semi-musical braying .or resembling remotely a Punch and Judy voice, but quite distinctive.

Another form of reinforcement is shown in Figs. 14 and 15, wherein the instrument body indicated at 39 has-a plurality of upright ribs 40 consides connecting nected at the top with the rounded flange 4| and at the bottom with the lower narrow flange 42, below which the groove appears between said flange and the bell 44. Internally, this body member is preferably constructed in the same manner as body member l6 previously described, so that the mouthpiece members 2| will fit into said member 39 with the reed or tongue in place.

It is, of course preferred to make the whole instrument of plastic, although die cast metal might be used; usually the body member may be made of phenol condensation product or some cellulose plastic or any other known plastic, as desired. The same is true of the mouthpiece members. The reed or tongue is readily made from a sheet of plastic of the proper thickness.

It has been stated that the upper portions of the mouthpiece members are generally cylindrical and of greater diameter than the upper large end of the tapered lower portion 22 to provide the stop shoulder 23, but this shoulder may in some cases be omitted and the upper portion of the members have the samediameter as the upper end of the taper 22, if desired.

Havin now fully described my invention, I claim:

1. A comic reed whistle or toy instrument, including a hollow body member ope-n at both ends and having an internal stop shoulder, mouthpiece means inserted into one end of said body member toward said stop shoulder, a substantially flat reed in said mouthpiece means having the upper or outer end free to vibrate in said mouthpiece means, the other end of said body member forming a bell on the latter, and the mouthpiece means comprisin a pair of opposed members having a wedge shaped opening in the upper end between them, a pair of spacing projections upon said members spacing said upper ends apart, a hollow sound chamber in the inner sides thereof, a sound projecting passage of relatively lesser cross section than said chamber connecting the latter with the interior of the bell on the body member, and external reinforcement means on the body member surrounding the same along the length thereof.

2. A comic reed whistle or toy instrument according to claim 1, wherein the external reinforcement means on the hollow body member includes a series of transverse flanges spaced apart along the length of said body member, and wherein the bell at the other end of said body member is flaring in form.

3. A comic reed whistle or toy instrument according to claim 1, wherein the external reinforcement means on the hollow body member in cludes integral skeleton reinforcements upon the sides extending along the length thereof and a iii) pair of flanges terminating the reinforcements and confining them between said flanges.

4. A comic reed whistle or toy instrument according to claim 1, wherein the external reinforcement means on the hollow body member includes a plurality of integral skeleton reinforcements upon the sides thereof extending along the length of said hollow body member and extending between said ends thereof.

5. A comic reed whistle or toy instrument having a hollow instrument body open at both ends and a pair of mouthpiece members facing each other and inserted together into one end of said body member, means spacing the outer ends of said mouthpiece members apart, a flat reed gripped between the confined ends of said mouthpiece members and having the upper end free to vibrate between the spaced ends of said members, wide sound chambers in the latter separated by said reed, a pair of narrow passages connecting said wide sound chambers with the lower opening in the hollow body, and a plurality of reinforcements integral upon the exterior of said body, the lower opening of the latter being flared to terminate in a bell.

6. A comic reed whistle or toy instrument according to claim 5, wherein the sound chambers are abruptly narrowed into the passages leading to the lower opening of the instrument body and these passages terminate abruptly in open condition in the relatively wider opening.

7. A comic reed whistle and the like, including a hollow body having one end open and flaring to form a bell and the other end terminating in an externally reduced portion to form a mouthpiece, the latter having a wedge-shaped opening or slot symmetrically disposed with respect to a cleavage plane longitudinally dividing the mouthpiece into two opposite equal portions, with the wider end of the wedge-shaped opening disposed at the outer end of said mouthpiece and the narrower inner end extending a predetermined distance inwardly into the interior of said hollow body, the latter body having a hollow sound chamber extending up into the mouthpiece in open communication with the wedge-shaped opening therein and an axial sound passage interconnecting the sound chamber and the interior of the flared open end of said bell, integral ex ternal reinforcing means surrounding said hollow body along the length thereof but extending between both ends of said hollow body; a vibratory reed located in said wedge-shaped opening in a position to bisect said sound chamber and at least a portion of said axial sound passage longitudinally, said reed being disposed with the inner end thereof confined in the inner end of said wedge-shaped opening and the outer end being free to vibrate in the wider end of the wedgeshaped opening between the tWo opposite portions of said mouthpiece; and means spacing the outer ends of said opposite portions of the mouthpiece apart.

LEO SOKLASKI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 805,727 Howe Nov. 28, 1905 939,080 Perdew Nov. 2, 1909 1,043,123 McCluskey Nov. 5, 1912 2,274,897 Home Mar. 3, 1942 2,321,193 Garrison June 8, 1943 

